Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS) providers are still piling on new pension schemes to cater for expats looking for an offshore haven for their retirement savings.
The latest HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has seen 35 new QROPS open and just one close in the past two weeks.
The number of QROPS worldwide has hit yet another new record – with 3,476 pensions on the September 1, 2014 QROPS List published by HMRC.
That marks an overall increase of 34 pensions since the last list was published on August 15, 2014 and a net rise of 349 schemes during the past 12 months.
Providers are still opening the pensions at a rate of one a day, a trend that has figured on the list for several months in a row.
Australia heads the market
Australia is still leading the way with 1,462 QROPS – taking a 42% share of the market by number of QROPS. Providers opened 19 new schemes in the past two weeks and 238 during the past year.
Only one scheme was removed from the list – in the Isle of Man.
QROPS are left off the list for a number of reasons including closing the scheme, HMRC suspecting the scheme breaks QROPS rules or putting the pension is under administrative review.
HMRC plans to publish the next QROPS list on September 15, 2014.
| QROPS List - September 1, 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Count of QROPS pensions | |||
| Values | ||||
| September 1, 2013 | September 1, 2014 | |||
| Australia | 1224 | 1462 | ||
| Austria | 9 | 11 | ||
| Barbados | 4 | 2 | ||
| Belgium | 22 | 23 | ||
| Bulgaria | 3 | 3 | ||
| Canada | 98 | 96 | ||
| Czech Republic | 4 | 3 | ||
| Denmark | 8 | 9 | ||
| European Union | 1 | 1 | ||
| Finland | 4 | 3 | ||
| France | 40 | 37 | ||
| Germany | 56 | 55 | ||
| Gibraltar | 22 | 40 | ||
| Greece | 1 | 1 | ||
| Guernsey | 50 | 79 | ||
| Hong Kong | 2 | 4 | ||
| Hungary | 1 | 1 | ||
| Iceland | 3 | 3 | ||
| India | 19 | 12 | ||
| Ireland | 720 | 764 | ||
| Isle of Man | 227 | 223 | ||
| Italy | 45 | 48 | ||
| Jamaica | 2 | 2 | ||
| Jersey | 135 | 137 | ||
| Latvia | 1 | 3 | ||
| Liechtenstein | 2 | 3 | ||
| Luxembourg | 8 | 10 | ||
| Malta | 16 | 22 | ||
| Mauritius | 2 | 1 | ||
| Netherlands | 104 | 114 | ||
| New Zealand | 48 | 59 | ||
| Norway | 7 | 8 | ||
| Portugal | 23 | 23 | ||
| Russian Federation | 1 | 1 | ||
| South Africa | 31 | 31 | ||
| Spain | 16 | 16 | ||
| Sri Lanka | 1 | 1 | ||
| Sweden | 8 | 7 | ||
| Switzerland | 138 | 139 | ||
| Trinidad | 3 | 2 | ||
| Turkey | 3 | 3 | ||
| USA | 15 | 14 | ||
| Total: | 3127 | 3476 | ||
| Source: HMRC | ||||
